ALLEN PARK -- Free agent safety James Ihedigbo left the Detroit Lions' practice facility without a contract Thursday, but said he expects to reach an agreement with the team soon.

"That's the plan in hand," he said, as he left the building for a town car that whisked him to the Detroit Metro Airport. He is flying home to Houston.

That likely means a deal isn't quite imminent yet, but Ihedigbo also appears to expect one soon.

The strong safety played the past two seasons in Baltimore, and started all 16 games last year as one of the Ravens' best defensive players. He had a career season, racking up 101 tackles, 11 pass defenses and three interceptions.

Ihedigbo is one of the top unsigned safeties, along with Chris Clemons. He is known as a heavy hitter who is lethal on the blitz and covers a lot of territory in pass coverage.

Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who spent the past two seasons in Baltimore, said Ihedigbo also was one of the Ravens' foremost leaders.
Austin praised Ihedigbo as one of Baltimore's veteran leaders during his introductory news conference last month.

"I think one of the things we did that helped foster leadership was we had a player mentoring program, where I know in our room we had James Ihedigbo," Austin said. "He would take one of the younger safeties and say, 'Hey, listen. Here's how things are done. Here's how we do it. This is right; this is wrong.'

"We tried to mentor our guys that way and that helps develop leadership within the room. Once you get it within the room, the guys who have the strongest personality or best leadership qualities, they'll kind of start taking over that way."

Detroit is looking for a replacement to Louis Delmas, who was released and has since signed with the Dolphins.